Draw With Me: Sketches
by XpaperplaneX
Summary: Stories related to the Draw With Me universe, filling in blanks and expanding on things mentioned in the original fic. Chapter 3/4: A routine mission turns sour when Sephiroth realizes just where he and Cloud have been sent.
1. Pumpkins With Faces

_**Title:**_ Pumpkins With Faces  
><em><strong>Author: <strong>_XpaperplaneX  
><em><strong>Rating:<strong>_ G  
><em><strong>Word Count:<strong>_ ~1800  
><em><strong>Characters:<strong>_ Sephiroth, Cloud, Kunsel  
><em><strong>Genre:<strong>_ friendship  
><em><strong>Warnings:<strong>_ none  
><em><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_ I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work.  
><em><strong>Summary:<strong>_ In the midst of a war, Sephiroth learns about holidays and Cloud makes a new friend.

Set in the _Draw With Me_ universe.

Am I even capable of keeping things contained to a one-shot? I have some doubts. I'm working on more for this 'verse, including their arrival in Wutai, but I wanted to get this done for Halloween. The only backstory you're missing is that Kunsel's their buddy. Happy Halloween!

XXX

"Hey, Cloud."

Cloud immediately dropped his pencil when Sephiroth pushed the door to their tent open and broke into a smile. Scrambling for a fresh sheet of paper, he grabbed the pencil again and wrote, _Did you have a good day?_ Sephiroth looked like it had been a good day. He was smiling as he pulled off his boots and seemed more relaxed than most days when he came back to the camp tired and angry.

"Yes, I did. Come here." Sephiroth sat down on his cot and crossed his legs, then patted his lap. He had a box in one hand that he set down beside him.

Curious, Cloud went over and crawled into Sephiroth's lap, letting Sephiroth arrange him how he saw fit. He ended up leaning back against Sephiroth's chest with his strong arms holding him snugly.

"Do you know what today is?" Sephiroth asked, resting his chin on Cloud's shoulder.

Cloud shook his head, wondering if he had forgotten something. He twisted his head around to look at Sephiroth's face to see if he was angry, but just got a kiss on his nose.

"Don't look so worried. I haven't gotten mad at you for not knowing something yet, have I?"

He gave his head another shake. Sephiroth didn't get mad at him—he got mad at other people, but never at Cloud.

"I didn't know about this until today, either, but today's a holiday. It's called Halloween."

_Halloween?_ Cloud mouthed the word. He vaguely remembered a word like that from before he went to the lab.

"That's right." Sephiroth was really good at reading his lips. "I don't really understand it, but Kunsel said that there are pumpkins with faces involved, so I got you a present." He picked up the box, and Cloud peered nervously at what looked like air holes in it. "Do you want me to open it for you?"

Cloud scrunched up his face at Sephiroth. He could open his own present. He wasn't scared.

"Then, go ahead, I'll hold it still for you."

Sephiroth held the bottom of the box while Cloud got the top open. Inside was a weird-looking orange ball with white dangly things on the bottom. Sephiroth lifted it up by a pink bow that was attached to the top of the orange and held it up for Cloud to see. A pair of eyes opened on the front of the orange part and Cloud stared at it in shock. It was alive!

"It's called a Dorky Face. Your eyes are as big as saucers—don't worry, it won't hurt you."

If Sephiroth said it wouldn't hurt him, it wouldn't. Cloud reached out cautiously and poked at it. The part he poked scrunched up and a mouth opened—it looked like it was laughing. He turned around and looked at Sephiroth while pointing to himself. Was it really for him? Where had it come from?

"Do you like it?"

Cloud nodded vigorously. It was a present just for him, so of course he liked it. He remembered presents. And pets. Live things were pets. He reached out again and held it carefully in his hand. It was very light, almost as though it was filled with air, and it was difficult to actually hold it.

"I saw them a few days ago when I was out on patrol." Sephiroth let go of the bow and returned to resting his chin on Cloud's shoulder. The thing stayed in Cloud's hand, however, and even seemed to sink down a little bit. "One of the locals said they gather in abandoned buildings because there's little air movement and plenty of food. Their heads look like pumpkins, so I thought it would be a good gift for this 'Halloween'."

Cloud set his pet down on his lap and mimed eating, then pointed at it.

"They eat bugs. Winter's coming soon, so I'll make sure to make arrangements for some freeze-dried bugs to come in with our next supply shipment. For now, I think it'll be fine hunting for itself."

Their tent was one of the nicer ones, and Cloud swept it out every couple of days, but there were still a lot of little bugs that would hide in the corners. If he took it outside, there would be even more—Wutai had a lot of bugs. Maybe it would eat the big scary ones that sometimes crawled into his shoes.

"Speaking of food, are you hungry?" When Cloud nodded, Sephiroth picked him up and set him on his feet. His pet bounced off his lap and floated next to his head. Cloud pointed to it, then pointed to the door, asking Sephiroth with his eyes. "You can bring it if you want, but you have to be careful with it outside. If it's windy, it'll accidentally blow away."

Cloud frowned for a moment before coming up with a solution. He ran over to Sephiroth's desk and pulled out a ball of string and a pair of scissors. He held up the string and touched the pink bow part.

"Good idea. I'll tie a loop at one end so you can attach it to the ribbon yourself." Sephiroth held out his hand for the string.

Cloud handed them over, but held up his hand with his fingers together and his palm facing Sephiroth. Sephiroth duly paused, recognizing Cloud's signal for 'wait'. Cloud pulled up on his hair and made a pained face; he didn't want to tie anything to his pet's head if it was going to hurt.

"I don't think it's painful..." Sephiroth looked carefully at the connection. "It didn't mind me picking it up by the ribbon. I think if you don't pull hard on it, it'll be okay. Maybe hold it by its body if it's really windy, just in case."

Cloud nodded and waited while Sephiroth cut a nice length off the ball and tied a loop in one end of it. Knots were hard, but he could manage a loop with one hand. His pet held very still while Cloud looped it through the ribbon and pulled it snug, but not tight. It was well trained... or it just liked floating in one spot, Cloud wasn't sure. He supposed that if Sephiroth had found it, it probably hadn't been trained. He took a few steps and smiled at Sephiroth when it bobbed after him. Having a friend for while Sephiroth was away would be nice.

XXX

Sephiroth headed for the meal line and kept an eye on Cloud as he led the Dorky Face over to the table in the far corner where they usually sat. Most people left Cloud alone, but it never hurt to keep watch.

"What's Cloud got?"

Sephiroth turned as Kunsel came up behind him. "His Halloween present. One of those Dorky Face things that we've been seeing in the abandoned villages. I caught it for him this afternoon."

"Halloween present?" Kunsel pulled off his helmet and tucked it under his arm, shaking his hair out of his eyes.

"You said it was a holiday. You get people presents for holidays, right?" Sephiroth frowned; he had been certain that was the right thing to do for holidays.

"Um, well, it's not really a present sort of—never mind. Yes, presents are for holidays. A Dorky Face, you said? Is that safe?"

He nodded as the line moved forward, and he grabbed two trays. "I cast Silence on it. There's nothing it can do to hurt him. But don't tell Cloud; I don't know how he'd react to that."

"Yeah... that might be an issue."

"He likes it," Sephiroth said, trying to justify his choice, "And it hasn't tried to escape. I made sure it was one of the little ones, so it's probably not afraid of people yet. The locals said they don't attack anyone unless they're frightened."

"Relax, sir, I'm not about to send you to the firing squad for rendering a monster harmless."

"You can't—" Oh. He understood. It was a joke. Sephiroth hoisted the loaded meal trays and headed over to Cloud. Kunsel would follow him, but that was all right. Cloud liked it when Kunsel joined them at meals.

Cloud was petting the Dorky Face's top when he sat down, but he stopped and started rummaging through his pockets almost immediately.

"I've got your notebook here," Sephiroth said, taking it out of his breast pocket. Cloud had left it behind when they left the tent, too fascinated by his present to think of it.

Cloud grabbed for it and wrote excitedly, _It caught a mosquito and ate it up!_

"Cool!" Kunsel said as he sat down and began digging into his meal. "That sounds handy. Maybe I should get one for in my tent. There's been a mosquito in there for the past three nights and it's driving me crazy."

_We can come over to visit._ Cloud smiled proudly and patted the Dorky Face again.

"Even better. I never was very good at keeping pets. Have you thought of a name for it?"

Cloud's eyes went wide, and moments later, his eyebrows furrowed and he seemed to be deep in concentration. Sephiroth hadn't even considered that it would need a name. Apparently, Cloud hadn't, either.

"Eat your dinner while you're thinking," Sephiroth said, tapping the edge of Cloud's tray.

Cloud ate distractedly and didn't pay any attention to the conversations as people stopped by to chat with Kunsel. Finally, as he was finishing up the last of his potatoes, he took up his pen again.

_Eggplant._

"Eggplant? You're calling it Eggplant?"

Sephiroth frowned at Kunsel. What was wrong with that? Was it a bad name for a pet?

Cloud just nodded once and tapped the name.

"Why Eggplant?" Kunsel asked.

_He looks like a pumpkin, so I thought I would call him Pumpkin, but we had pumpkin pie for dessert last week, and everybody liked it and wanted more. If his name was Pumpkin, people might want to eat him._

"Okay, I don't really follow that line of logic, but fair enough. Pumpkin is a dangerous name. Eggplant's not?"

_Everyone always complains when there's eggplant. It's yucky. If his name is Eggplant, no one will eat him._

Kunsel looked at him with a bewildered expression, and Sephiroth shrugged. "Sounds like a good name to me."

_Everyone has to call him Eggplant for me so he learns his name. I don't think he can read._

"All right." Kunsel gave his head a shake and reached over the table to pat the Dorky Face. "Hello, Eggplant. Nice to meet you. Please come to my tent and eat the mosquitoes in it."

XXX

A/N: Dorky Faces, y u so silly? Thanks to Urplesquirrel for brainstorming with me about the lifestyles of the orange and the floaty.


	2. A New World

_**Title:**_ A New World  
><em><strong>Author: <strong>_XpaperplaneX  
><em><strong>Rating:<strong>_ PG  
><em><strong>Word Count:<strong>_ ~5100  
><em><strong>Characters:<strong>_ Sephiroth, Cloud, Kunsel  
><em><strong>Genre:<strong>_ friendship, hurt/comfort  
><em><strong>Warnings:<strong>_ none  
><em><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_ I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work.  
><em><strong>Summary:<strong>_ Sephiroth had expected life to get easier after leaving the lab. He and Cloud were together, after all. But adjusting to life in a warzone is harder than expected.

Set in the _Draw With Me_ universe, immediately after Sephiroth and Cloud break out of the lab.

Did I mention that these are not in chronological order? Because they're not. I'll put them in order in the master post on LJ and DW. I decided that Kunsel has been in the army a while, which is why he knows so much. He's more of a people person than a fighter, though, which is why he never makes it past Second Class. Also, don't expect to see much of the actual war. It's not my cup of tea.

XXX

"Rumour is this new commander's even younger than us," Angeal said as he sat down on a crate next to Genesis.

"Tell me you're not serious, Angeal. I have a headache already and the day's barely started."

"Nothing's certain, but the one consistent rumour is that he's that other scientist Hojo's pet project."

"Ah, I see. The one that Hollander was upset with over the funding cuts. So, this project's better than us?"

Angeal shrugged. "I suppose we'll find out. If he's not, at least Hollander will have less to complain about."

"And if he is? I'm not a hero yet, Angeal. I don't need some upstart kid ruining the good thing I've got going."

"Oh yeah, great thing we've got going on here." Angeal glared up at the heavens that hadn't ceased raining in sixteen days. "I know I always dreamed of slogging through a metre of mud and chasing after enemies we can't find."

"This is our chance to prove ourselves to the world, my friend. Surely a little rain isn't too much for you to handle."

"I can handle the rain, but would it kill your goddess to send a little sun our way? I don't think I own a single thing that isn't soaked through."

Genesis laughed lightly and thumped him on the back. "Come on, let's go to the mess tent. I've got a tin of Banora Whites saved for a miserable day like this."

XXX

Sephiroth held Cloud in his arms and rocked him like a nurse had done for him once after a particularly bad session with Hojo. It seemed to comfort him somewhat, though he still looked extremely sick. He wasn't sure what was causing it, but he remembered throwing up after the first time Hojo had made him fight a monster. Maybe that was the problem. Cloud hadn't done any fighting, but it had been a hard day all the same. At least he hadn't had anything to eat since last night, so he didn't have much in his stomach.

He shifted, feeling uncomfortable in the First Class uniform they had provided him with before they boarded the helicopter bound for Wutai. He hadn't even had a chance to take a shower before they left, and the stench of urine was still on him. Not that that was Cloud's fault. No more than the blood that was dried in his hair or the few remaining wounds that were bothering him.

"You healed me," he whispered with a small smile on his face. He still had trouble believing that Cloud had somehow managed to cast a spell. Cloud's eyes were glazed over and unfocused, and he didn't acknowledge that Sephiroth had spoken.

"Did you say something, sir?" One of the SOLDIERs that had been assigned to go with him spoke up.

"Not to you," Sephiroth said shortly. "No." He changed his mind as the SOLDIER leaned back in his seat again. "Get me some water."

"Yes, sir." He rummaged through a compartment and came over with a bottle of water and cracked it open. Sephiroth could feel the SOLDIER's eyes on him as he held it up to Cloud's lips and encouraged him to take a few small sips. "He's got it pretty bad, huh?"

"Got what pretty bad?" Sephiroth snapped his head up. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" Was there some sort of illness going around that he didn't know about?

"Motion sickness. That's what I thought, at any rate." The SOLDIER looked confused and slightly frightened, so Sephiroth softened his tone. He was supposed to be commanding these men, not frightening them.

"What's 'motion sickness'?" He knew what it sounded like, but had never heard of such a thing.

"Like, when you get sick in cars or other moving vehicles. He wasn't sick until we started flying, right?"

"Yes, I—I've never heard of that before." A shudder ran up his spine as he considered all the other things he might not know. What if just leaving the lab made Cloud sick? He might have been undergoing an experiment that couldn't be interrupted. "No one—I don't know—I promised to take care of him, but—" Sephiroth spoke in a whisper, but the SOLDIER seemed to hear anyways.

"It's no big deal, sir. He'll be fine after we land."

"I can't even protect him from..." His failures from earlier in the day all seemed to come down on him like a landslide. He had been too slow, he wasn't strong enough, he had let Cloud down and given up. Twice. He couldn't bring himself to look at the stump where Cloud's hand had been. How could he have let that happen? The last four years had been spent wishing that he could get through that wall. He had known that if he could only do that, everything would be all right. He would protect Cloud and comfort him and keep anything bad from happening to him ever again. And now, less than six hours after getting his wish, he had already failed several times.

"Are you okay, sir?" The SOLDIER reached out a hand and Sephiroth jerked back.

"Don't touch him!"

The SOLDIER pulled his hand back and returned to his seat. He didn't try to touch Cloud again for the remainder of the flight, but he kept up a running commentary that Sephiroth supposed was meant to keep Cloud distracted from his illness.

XXX

Genesis waved from his spot near the landing site when he spotted Angeal returning from his patrol. Angeal was covered head to toe in mud and he did not look pleased as he made his way over.

"Is he _still_ not here?"

"They're en route with our punctual new commander, according to the latest updates. He should be arriving in half an hour." Genesis held out an apple slice on a fork, and Angeal opened his mouth. He would have to get his parents to send some more soon.

"I notice you haven't paraded the troops again," he said around the apple.

"Are you kidding? I like my hide where it is. The regulars would do it, but the SOLDIERs were looking angry after the first time and downright mutinous after the second. He can have a formal welcome in the morning—assuming he ever arrives."

"I guess that means I don't have to get cleaned up."

"Not unless you feel like sparing me your mud splatters." Genesis wiped a bit of mud off his coat and held up his finger as evidence.

"Not today. Did you ever find out what the hold-up was?"

"HQ said that there was trouble when they went to pick him up and the president had to be called in. They didn't mention what the trouble was, of course."

"Of course not. Why would we need to know anything? Give me that fork, I'm starved."

Genesis let Angeal have the rest of the tin—half had been for him anyway—while they waited for the helicopter to arrive and placed bets on whether or not it would. He grinned happily as he heard the distinctive sound of helicopter blades growing nearer. "I'm going to _revel_ in your hot water, Angeal. I'm going to be red and wrinkly and it's going to be _wonderful_."

"The bet was for five minutes of my hot water. I don't think you'll have that much time to revel."

"Five minutes will feel like an eternity." Genesis stood up and squeezed some water out of his hair in an attempt to make himself look more presentable.

He shared a sideways glance with Angeal when a young man with a long mane of silver hair—he looked more like a fresh recruit than a commander— stepped off the helicopter. The kid glanced around suspiciously, didn't acknowledge their presence, and then turned back to the chopper. He got out again moments later with a small boy clutching his hand. The boy was swimming in a trooper uniform and swayed a little, looking rather green. He stared at Genesis and Angeal with wide blue eyes.

"He's got a catamite?" Genesis said. "Why didn't we get catamites? Are they standard issue?"

Angeal tried to turn his laugh into a cough, but Genesis heard it. He also saw the older kid's head snap up and a pair of mako-bright eyes flashed angrily at him.

"Seriously, though, what the hell?" Angeal got his laughter under control and frowned at the pair walking over to them. "Catamites aside, what's he doing with a kid? He's too young to be his father."

"Commanders Genesis and Angeal?" The older kid gently nudged the younger one behind him and held out his hand. Up close, Genesis noticed that both of them were absolutely filthy and the younger one's left arm wasn't just behind his back, it was missing. They also stank, and Genesis didn't care to imagine what of.

"Commander Genesis. This is my 2IC, Angeal. And you must be Sephiroth." He deliberately left off the title; Sephiroth would have to earn their respect, even if Shin-Ra could simply force the rest of the army to grant it automatically.

"Yes. _Commander_ Sephiroth. If you would show us to our quarters, we need showers and a meal."

Genesis bristled at Sephiroth's tone. "Did you hold a practice war before you came? Looks like you got a little ro—"

"Kunsel," Sephiroth turned away from them and addressed the Third Class who was supervising the unloading of supplies from the chopper. "Do you know where our quarters are located?"

"Yes, sir. Your tent will be with the other commanders'. I can show you, if you'd like."

"Yes. Cloud needs to eat something."

The Third nodded and appointed a trooper to finish supervising the unloading, then began leading Sephiroth and the boy off. "I'll show you where the showers are, then go see if I can wrangle up something from the mess tent. I'm friends with the quartermaster, so I'll ask him about finding some clothes that will fit Cloud a bit better. Since no one was expecting him, nothing's prepared, but I'll try to at least get a second cot put in your tent."

"The most important thing is a pad of paper and a pen or pencil. He can sleep on my cot and I'll take the ground if need be."

The boy—Genesis supposed his name was Cloud—tripped and stumbled over his pant leg that had come unrolled and Sephiroth picked him up without a word. He stared over Sephiroth's shoulder without blinking at them until they were out of sight.

"Creepy little kid," Genesis muttered.

"Gen, would you do us a favour and—"

"I'm phoning, I'm phoning. 'What the hell?' is right."

XXX

Kunsel stopped outside the newest officer's tent, set the small footlocker down, and knocked on the post by the door. "Sir? It's Kunsel. Permission to enter?"

"Come in," Sephiroth called from inside.

He entered to find Sephiroth sitting next to Cloud on his bed with the sleeping bag in disarray. Cloud looked like he had been crying and he held the pad of paper on his lap.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but I've got a few more clothes for Cloud. They'll all be big, but they're the best we can do at the moment. The quartermaster said he'd try and bring some stuff that actually fits in with the next supply shipment."

"Thank you." Sephiroth stroked Cloud's hair as he spoke. "I didn't even think about clothes for him or paper or anything. I dragged him out before he had even eaten this morning."

Kunsel glanced down at the paper on Cloud's lap. It was mostly filled with words, little pictures, and what looked like nonsense. It took a moment for him to realize that the nonsense was a different set of handwriting with the letters reversed.

"Permission to speak freely for a moment, sir?"

"I suppose. What do you want to say?"

"Just that you're not doing a bad job. I can tell you care about him and you're doing the best you can. So don't beat yourself up too much, okay?" Sephiroth had berated himself in every other sentence that came out of his mouth on the way over, and it seemed that his sense of failure hadn't dulled any since then.

Cloud nodded vigourously and wrote something down. It took Kunsel a moment to decipher it, but it said, _Protected me._

"I don't know what led up to us surrounding you at the mansion today, but if you wanted to protect Cloud, you did the right thing. I know..." Kunsel couldn't help but read a few more of the backwards sentences on the paper. "I know this is a huge change, and he's scared, and he's going to have trouble adjusting, but you convinced the president to let him stay with you and that's what was really important, hey kiddo?"

_Want to be together._

"Yeah, and this way you can be together. Even if it's not the ideal situation."

"I always meant to take him with me when they sent me to war," Sephiroth spoke up, "But now... it's not safe for him."

"Then we'll all have to chip in and make sure he stays safe." He almost said something about talking to the guys to get them to help look after him, but the possessive look on Sephiroth's face made him change his mind in a hurry. "And you're strong; you'll be able to look after him." He paused and decided a change of topic was in order. "Why does Cloud write backwards?"

"It's been a long time since he's written normally. It's more natural for him to write backwards."

"Oh," Kunsel said, feeling like that explained absolutely nothing. It also explained nothing about why he didn't just speak, but he hadn't even hoped for an explanation for that.

"I wrote the alphabet at the top of the wall when he was trying to learn, maybe that would help," Sephiroth said mostly to himself.

"Yeah, that probably would." Kunsel nodded. "It's good to have a reference."

Sephiroth took the pad of paper from Cloud and flipped to a new sheet. He wrote the alphabet across the top in both capital and lowercase letters, then handed it back. "You don't have to write normally if you don't want," he said quietly. "Just if you do, it's there."

_Tired._ Cloud didn't even attempt regular letters.

"It's been a long day. Let me just finish fixing your sleeping bag and you can go to bed." Sephiroth flipped the bag the rest of the way inside out and began tying the liner to the shell. Kunsel watched as Cloud attempted to help, but couldn't work the ties through the loops with one hand. "I've got it, Cloud. It'll be easier when you're not so tired. There." He shook the bag out, laid it flat on the cot, and held it open for Cloud to crawl in.

Kunsel stepped back towards the door of the tent while Sephiroth tucked Cloud into bed and murmured something in his ear before kissing him on the forehead.

"Was there something else?" Sephiroth asked when he stood up and dimmed the lamp.

"Commander Genesis wanted me to tell you that he wants to see you first thing after breakfast. Both he and Angeal are... a bit upset over Cloud being here."

"I suppose. All right, I'll speak to them in the morning."

"Have a good night, then, sir. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, but I... Can I ask something?"

"Of course, sir." Kunsel bit back a smile at the hesitant question. Somehow he didn't think that questions had been encouraged where Sephiroth came from.

"I overheard Genesis when we first arrived, and I know what a catamite is. Do they—is that what people will think? That Cloud is my catamite?"

Kunsel cringed at Sephiroth's hurt tone. "They might," he said gently. "And they might not phrase it as nicely. But as long as you don't treat him like that—and you shouldn't—it doesn't matter what people say. Tell that to Cloud, too. Maybe it would help if you said he's your brother or something. That would at least be an explanation and that's what people really want."

"An explanation for why he's here?"

"And who he is and why you're so attached to each other."

Sephiroth stared oddly at his left hand for a few moments before he spoke. "Okay. I'll tell them he's my brother. I think his mother died, so if he were my brother, I'd have to take care of him, right?"

"Yeah, that would make sense. Do you not know for sure about his mom?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "I don't think he really knew or understood what happened. He told me that she was sick for a long time, then he wasn't allowed to see her anymore. He remembered a lot of angry people at the mayor's house where he was staying before he woke up one morning in the lab. I assume she died and there was no one to take care of him."

"So he lived in the lab with you? That's how you met?"

"Yes. I've had a long day, too. I should go to sleep." Sephiroth's face closed off and Kunsel knew he wasn't getting any more out of him tonight.

"'Night, sir. Sleep well." Kunsel turned to go, feeling a little unsure of what he wanted to do with his newfound information. Somehow he didn't think that Sephiroth would want the fact that Cloud was a lab rat as well to become general knowledge. And he found the awkwardness rather endearing; despite the fact that Sephiroth was older than him, he seemed a bit like a younger brother that he just wanted to help out.

XXX

Cloud woke with a gentle hand on his shoulder. Sephiroth was fully dressed already and he smiled at Cloud.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

Cloud nodded; he had slept better than he did most nights, much to his shame. He hadn't meant to sleep at all. He knew that if he did, he'd have nightmares, and now that meant that he'd disturb Sephiroth.

"I've got some clothes here for you. It's warmer than yesterday and it's stopped raining, so that's some good news."

He nodded again. What else was he supposed to do? Arguing that it wasn't warm and everything still felt damp, and that he missed the lab wouldn't do any good. Cloud almost laughed at that thought. He hated the lab, but it was his home and he knew what to expect there and what was expected of him. This place was frightening. And Sephiroth had _killed_ people yesterday. He wanted the Sephiroth who drew stories for him on the wall back. He wondered if that Sephiroth would go away completely now that they had been sent off to the war like he used to talk about. They seemed like two different people.

"Do you need help getting dressed?" Sephiroth asked.

He shook his head. He could do it himself. All the strangers here would laugh at him even more if he couldn't even dress himself. And what if Sephiroth got sick of doing everything for him? _"Let him have his little fixation. He'll get over it sooner or later and it keeps him entertained in the meantime."_ That's what Professor Hojo had said when someone had asked why he let them write on the wall. He shook out the pair of pants that Sephiroth had set out for him and dragged them over his legs. He struggled with the button, but turned away when Sephiroth reached out to help. Eventually, he managed.

His feet didn't reach anywhere near the bottoms of the legs and he could have easily gotten them over his hips with the button done up. Sephiroth knelt down and began rolling up the cuffs before he could protest. He tried to say that he could do it, but nothing came out and he gave it up. Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes and he blinked rapidly. He wasn't going to start crying again.

"Here's a belt and a shirt. Can you manage those?"

Cloud angrily pulled the shirt over his head. Of _course_ he could manage that. He wasn't a baby. Shoving the belt through the belt loops while he was blinking back even more tears wasn't as easy, but he did it and cinched it as tightly as he could, then sat back down to wait for more instructions.

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth was back, and he knelt down next to Cloud and handed him his pad of paper.

Cloud shoved it away. He didn't want it. He didn't want to have to write when everyone else got to just say things. If he had to write, he wanted his wall back so that the way he wrote wouldn't be weird because he was too stupid to remember how to make the letters the right way around.

"Cloud, I'm sorry. Please don't be upset." Sephiroth wrapped his arms around him and cradled his head against his shoulder. "Don't cry."

It was too late for that, though. Once the tears began to flow, he couldn't stop them, and he sobbed silently while Sephiroth rocked him. He wanted to scream that it wasn't fair, but he couldn't. And it wasn't fair that he couldn't. Instead he thumped his fist against Sephiroth's chest and sobbed until he couldn't catch his breath.

"Can I do anything?" Sephiroth asked once his crying had slowed down.

Cloud shook his head and sat up, wiping his tears away. Picking up the pad of paper off the floor where it had fallen, he wrote, _I'm sorry._

"Don't be sorry, Cloud. I understand. Please tell me if I can do anything to make it better."

A loud growl from his stomach broke through the tension and Cloud flushed with embarrassment.

"Come on, then. Let's go to the latrines and get washed up then get some breakfast." Sephiroth placed a pair of huge combat boots in front of him. "They _are_ going to get you clothes and shoes that fit, but I thought that you probably wouldn't want me to carry you everywhere until then."

_Thanks._ He didn't want to be carried, and he hoped he could wash his face before anyone saw him and realized that he had been crying.

"They don't bring meals to you here, usually, but I saw the mess tent when I was out looking for boots."

Cloud shoved his feet in the boots and laughed at how big they looked on him, then took Sephiroth's offered hand. It made sense that they wouldn't bring meals here. There were a lot of people and Cloud supposed they could leave their tents whenever they wanted to. The mess tent must be where they ate.

XXX

Sephiroth glanced down with concern at Cloud when they stepped into the mess tent. Cloud had gone pale and balked at the large, noisy crowd of people inside. He wasn't used to so many people—Sephiroth wasn't either, but it didn't frighten him. "Do you want me to bring a tray back to the tent for you?"

Cloud bit his lip and shook his head, taking hold of a fistful of Sephiroth's hair.

"Okay. Just ignore everyone else, then. I won't let them hurt you." He saw the others staring as they walked over to the serving line. A few even pointed at Cloud; Sephiroth quickly manoeuvred him out of their lines of sight as best he could. He was a wall between Cloud and the people who wanted to hurt him, and he would not fail him again. He took a tray for each of them and moved Cloud in front of him, stroking his soft hair to comfort him. He didn't know what the people staring at Cloud were thinking and he didn't want to.

Bacon, toast, a cup of fruit, and some hashbrowns were piled on their trays. A carafe at the end of the serving line held coffee and another one was labelled as tea. Cloud didn't drink either of those. He poured a cup of coffee for himself, then wondered if he should ask about juice, or at least water for Cloud, but he didn't want to draw more attention to Cloud than there already was.

Cloud shuffled next to him as he hesitated, probably wondering what he was doing. Men were moving around them, getting their own drinks and giving them curious glances.

"Do you need something, sir?" The man who had doled out their hashbrowns approached.

"Cloud doesn't drink—can he have water?" Sephiroth could have kicked himself. He was supposed to _command_, not stammer and beg for favours.

The man smiled. "There's water at every table, sir, but would he like some milk? All we've got at the moment is powdered, but if he'll drink it, it'd probably be good for him."

Cloud always drank his milk when it came with meals. Sephiroth nodded. "Yes. He'd like that."

"I'll bring it over to your table."

"Bring it to the command tent. It's late enough already." Sephiroth turned towards the newcomer's voice. Angeal was there, looking annoyed and he motioned to Sephiroth. "You can bring the kid with you and eat there, but there are things we need to discuss."

XXX

Cloud sipped slowly at the cup of milk that had been given to him with his breakfast. It was gross—warm and gritty, and it had a strange aftertaste—but the man had gotten it for him specially, and he didn't want to make Sephiroth mad by not drinking it. It was better to concentrate on drinking the milk anyways; he didn't want to listen to what the two big men were saying. They were angry with him; he knew that, but he didn't know why. A long time ago, he might have protested that he hadn't done anything wrong, but he knew better than that by now. It never mattered if he had done anything wrong or not.

"Doesn't he have a family?" one of the big men was saying. Cloud set his cup aside and wondered vaguely what would happen to him if Sephiroth sent him away. He didn't remember much of his mom, just the way she smelled and the tune of the song she would sing to him at night. Sephiroth said she was probably dead and that was why he didn't live with her anymore. He didn't want to go back to the lab to live all by himself.

"_I'm_ his family," Sephiroth said. Cloud gave a start as he was suddenly pulled onto Sephiroth's lap and held tightly. He didn't mind. It was nice to be held now that there wasn't the wall between them. A strand of silver hair was dangling in front of his face, and Cloud reached out to touch it. He had wanted to touch it for as long as he could remember; it had looked so soft and silky through the glass. It felt like the fur on his mom's nice winter coat running over his hand—nothing like his own hair. Sephiroth had pulled it back into a ponytail for him this morning, but it was already escaping and sticking out all over the place.

He sighed and closed his eyes as the conversation continued over his head. It didn't matter if he paid attention or not; whatever they decided would happen with or without his agreement. That was the way it always was.

He started again as Sephiroth stood suddenly, and he grabbed on desperately so he wouldn't fall. But Sephiroth was still holding him tightly; he wouldn't have let him fall. It seemed like the room was full of people and they were all shouting, but when he opened his eyes to see, it was still only the four of them. Their voices were so loud.

"Call him! Call him and ask him yourself, if you don't believe me," Sephiroth shouted. His voice sounded like it had when Cloud had been in the operating room with him. But less scared, Cloud decided. Sephiroth had sounded scared then, but he didn't now. Now he was just angry. "Cloud has permission to be here, and I don't care if you like it or not. Leave him alone, and he won't bother you, but if you touch him, I'll kill you."

Now they were walking away, with Sephiroth still carrying him. Cloud squirmed; he didn't want to be carried in front of all the other people, but Sephiroth didn't put him down. He didn't even seem to notice that Cloud was trying to get down, so he just gave up and let himself be carried. He didn't want to make Sephiroth madder than he already was.

XXX

Sephiroth held on to Cloud as tightly as he dared without risking hurting him. How dare they? Cloud was his! He would _not_ be happier in Midgar, or Banora, or anywhere else they might think of sending him. He would have to watch Cloud carefully, in case they tried to take him away. Kunsel might help him, but he wasn't sure that the man could be trusted. No one could be trusted, not enough, at any rate.

Cloud was squirming; Sephiroth knew that he didn't want to be carried, but couldn't bring himself to put him down. Cloud was _his_. The squirming stopped eventually, and Sephiroth skirted around the main traffic areas to avoid embarrassing him more, until he made it to their tent.

Inside, he set Cloud down on his cot and checked him over. "Don't be scared," he murmured, stroking Cloud's cheek. "I won't let them take you away."

Cloud reached for his paper. _Are you mad?_

"Not at you. Never at you."

_Are they mad?_

"It doesn't matter. I won't let them hurt you."

Cloud nodded and curled up on his cot. Sephiroth left him there and went to the small wooden box that had been on his desk when he arrived. The materia that Shin-Ra had decided he needed lay nestled inside. Among them were Sleep and Poison. Sephiroth took them out and rolled them around in his hands. Both were mastered; that was good. They would need to work fast. If they tried to take him... Sephiroth glanced back at Cloud.

"I'll protect you," he whispered. And if he couldn't, he would make sure that Cloud never suffered again. He wouldn't fail him in that.


	3. Those Chosen by the Planet, 1

_**Title:**_ Those Chosen by the Planet, Part 1/2  
><em><strong>Author: <strong>_XpaperplaneX  
><em><strong>Rating:<strong>_ PG  
><em><strong>Word Count:<strong>_ ~4300  
><em><strong>Characters:<strong>_ Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack, Tifa  
><em><strong>Genre:<strong>_ drama, friendship  
><em><strong>Warnings:<strong>_ none  
><em><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_ I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work.  
><em><strong>Summary:<strong>_ A routine mission turns sour when Sephiroth realizes just where he and Cloud have been sent.

Set in the _Draw With Me_ universe.

XXX

"Cloud, we're here." Sephiroth squeezed Cloud's shoulder when the truck pulled to a stop outside the gates of the town.

Cloud sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning widely. He fumbled for his notebook and wrote, _Done driving?_

"That's right. No more driving until we go home. Come on." Sephiroth held out his hand and Cloud latched on. He helped Cloud down from the truck and glanced around in the rapidly dimming light. The wind was bitingly cold, so he paused and made sure that Cloud's coat was done up all the way and pulled his hood up over his spiky hair. "Do you see the inn, Zack?" he called.

"Yeah, boss, it's just inside the gates. Hey, kiddo, little chilly out, huh?"

Cloud didn't respond. He was looking around at the town with an odd frown on his face.

"Something wrong?" Sephiroth asked.

Cloud simply pointed at what was apparently a water tower in the middle of the town square.

"Let's get inside. It'll be easier to write in there."

He bobbed his head and grabbed onto Sephiroth's hand again, following him up the gravel road. The town was quiet; most of its residents were probably indoors, away from the cold. Something seemed strange about it, however. There was a weird atmosphere that was putting Sephiroth on edge. Cloud seemed similarly agitated, and when they stepped into the clear area in the centre of the town, Cloud froze, staring straight ahead.

"What is—"

Cloud shook his hand free of Sephiroth's and ran straight towards a small house on the opposite side of the square. Sephiroth watched him bang on the door, then begin rattling the handle before he got over his shock and ran after him. He got there just as the door opened and an annoyed looking man blocked the entrance.

"What do you want, banging on the door like that?"

Cloud was frantic, trying to push his way past the man.

"Hey! Get out! What do you think you're doing?" The man pushed Cloud back—hard—and Cloud stumbled.

"Don't touch him!" Sephiroth shouted as he caught Cloud. He held him protectively and glared at the man.

"Kid comes along trying to break into _my _house and you're yelling at _me_? Who the hell are you people?" The door slammed shut before Sephiroth could answer, and he heard a bolt turning to lock them out.

Cloud struggled in his arms trying to get back to the door; tears were streaming down his cheeks, and he was saying something. Sephiroth concentrated a moment on reading his lips.

"Mommy?" he asked. When Cloud didn't respond, he picked him up and carried him back to where Zack and the trooper—Higgins was his name, Sephiroth remembered—were waiting outside the inn. "Did you get a room?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Cloud's upset."

"I can see that, but what happened?"

Sephiroth pushed his way past Zack and bundled Cloud through the door. "Where's the room?"

"Just upstairs. I'll show you. Finish unloading the truck," he added to Higgins.

Sephiroth waited impatiently on the landing for Zack to show him which room it was and pushed Cloud's hood off. He had mostly stopped crying; now he was just staring vacantly ahead the way he did whenever he stopped panicking after hearing mention of Hojo. He hugged him close and hoped that the rest of the mission wouldn't reflect the start; he hated it when Cloud had to come on missions that went poorly.

"Second door on the left," Zack said as he bounced up the stairs. "There're only two keys for the room; I figure we can each take one, and then leave Cloud with one of them when we go out."

Sephiroth snatched the key that Zack was holding out and entered the room, setting Cloud down on the nearest bed. He slammed the door shut in Zack's face and turned back to Cloud. "What happened, Cloud? Can you talk to me?" He sat next to him and placed his notebook in his lap.

Cloud stared at it for a long time before he picked up his pen. _Mom_, he wrote. _That's our house, but I didn't recognize that man. Where is she?_

"Your house?" Sephiroth tensed; the anxious feeling he had had earlier came back tenfold. "Cloud, what was the name of the town you lived in before we met?"

Cloud shrugged. _Think it started with an N._

Nibelheim started with an N. He didn't doubt that Cloud had recognized the house correctly; images were far more easily remembered than names. He pulled Cloud's hood back up and picked him up, hugging him tightly. "I need to go look for something," he said. "We'll find out why that man is in your house, don't worry."

He hurried down the stairs taking Cloud with him—he wouldn't leave him alone, not if they were where he thought they were.

"Everything okay? Where's the fire?"

Sephiroth swore under his breath when Zack interrupted. "We have to go look for something," he said through gritted teeth.

"What are you looking for? I can probably help," a girl said.

Sephiroth turned towards the speaker, and a perky young woman tipped her cowboy hat at him. "Who are you?"

"This is Tifa Lockheart," Zack said. "You said we'd need a guide to get us up to the reactor, so I asked around and apparently Tifa knows the mountain like the back of her hand. Do you need medicine or something for Cloud?"

"Oh, there's a drugstore just—"

"A mansion," Sephiroth interrupted. "Is there a mansion around here? Owned by Shin-Ra?"

"Oh, um, yeah, there's a big old house that Shin-Ra owns, but you don't want to go there. It's been abandoned for years."

"Where?" Sephiroth asked, his patience growing thin.

"A little ways north of town; you can just follow the path, but you really don't—"

The girl's voice was cut off when Sephiroth let the wind slam the door shut behind him. He tucked Cloud in close and made sure that his hand was at least inside his jacket sleeve. They wouldn't be out too long; he just had to see for himself, then he could decide what to do. If he hurried, Cloud wouldn't get too cold.

It was pitch black beyond the last house; even the stars didn't seem to be out tonight, but Sephiroth could still see the path he was on just fine. He decided that if he walked for half an hour and hadn't found it, he would turn back and look again in the morning. Staying out much longer than an hour when Cloud wasn't properly dressed for it would be irresponsible.

Just when he was beginning to think that he would have to turn back, there it was. The massive house appeared suddenly in the darkness, looming over them like something out of a nightmare. The wrought iron gate appeared to be rusted shut, though it probably wouldn't take much to bust through. He recognized the open area where the helicopter had landed, and the gravel drive where he had given up. Why would they send them here? He made sure Cloud's head stayed turned away; he didn't know if Cloud would recognize the mansion, but didn't want to risk upsetting him even more.

It was probably a trap, Sephiroth decided. They were going to try to take Cloud away from him and bring him back to the lab. The mansion looked abandoned, but he knew better than that. Hojo would never truly abandon his lab, even though he had followed them to Midgar.

"Let's go back," he said when he felt Cloud shiver against him. "I'll protect you, don't worry."

XXX

Zack stared at them strangely when they returned to the inn. Was he a part of the plot against them? He wouldn't have thought Zack would betray them, but after Genesis and Angeal, who could tell?

"Are you hungry?" he asked Cloud, who shook his head. Cloud often refused to eat when he was upset about something. It didn't seem worth it to convince him to eat this time, since Sephiroth didn't feel much like eating either. "Let's go get ready for bed, then."

Cloud changed into his pyjamas and washed his face, then sat on the bed holding his knees. He wrote something and held it up for Sephiroth to see. _Are we in danger?_

"Maybe," Sephiroth answered honestly. "You know where we are?"

_We lived here._

Sephiroth nodded. "I don't know why they sent us here, but I can't imagine it was for our benefits. I want you to stay close to me the entire time we're here."

Cloud nodded several times in agreement. _Can I sleep in your bed tonight?_

"Yes." He didn't care what anyone else thought; Cloud was sure to have nightmares tonight. Besides, he would be safer if Sephiroth were able to notice any movement right away.

_What about the mission?_

"You'll come with us. I'm not leaving you here alone. Don't worry, I'll protect you."

_Okay._ Cloud sat still with his pen on the paper for a long time before he wrote again. _She doesn't live there anymore, does she?_

"I...I don't think so."

_That was our home._

"I know, and he shouldn't have been there. He had no right." Sephiroth hugged Cloud and lay down on the bed with him. It wasn't right that people could just take away someone's home when they died. They should have kept it for Cloud. He pulled up the blanket and hummed softly to comfort him. "Do you want to draw together until you're ready to sleep?" he asked.

Cloud nodded, so Sephiroth reached for the sketchbook that he had placed on the nightstand. He passed the pencil over to Cloud and propped him up a little bit so he could get them started. Cloud began with what seemed like aimless swirls and scribbles, but as they passed the pencil back and forth, a more definite shape started to appear. Sephiroth sat back and looked at it more closely; it appeared vaguely like a female humanoid, but with grotesque deformities. It was strange; he was certain neither one of them had set out to draw it, but it definitely felt like that was what it was meant to be.

When Cloud's head began to nod, Sephiroth set the sketchbook aside and turned off the main light, leaving a lamp on so Zack and Higgins could find their ways around when they came in.

"Goodnight, Cloud," he whispered. "Sleep well." It seemed, as he lay there in the dim light, unable to sleep yet, that the creature they had drawn was calling out to him somehow. It felt as though it was watching him, and Sephiroth was hesitant to turn his back on it. Eventually he had enough and flipped the sketchbook closed, then put it in the drawer of the nightstand. It was ridiculous, he knew, but he felt better when it wasn't out there in the open.

XXX

"Sephiroth, you're not seriously thinking of bringing Cloud with us, are you?"

Sephiroth pulled Cloud's hat down over his ears and helped him get his hand into his glove. "I'm not leaving him here alone, so yes, I am."

"It's too dangerous," Zack protested. "We don't even know what kind of monsters we'll run into out there."

Zack was protesting too much, Sephiroth decided as he held out Cloud's coat for him. It seemed like he _wanted _Cloud to stay here alone and unprotected. The possibility that Zack hadn't betrayed them was growing ever smaller. "I've been protecting Cloud for over five years," he said, "and a lot of that was in combat situations. If you think I can't keep him safe from a few unknown monsters, then you've sorely underestimated me." He zipped up Cloud's coat and held out his boots one at a time. "You've hired that civilian girl; she'll take a lot more protecting than Cloud."

"Tifa's a martial artist; she can at least hold her own for a short while."

"You think Cloud can't?" Sephiroth made a face at Cloud, who laughed silently.

"Are you saying he can?"

Sephiroth simply held out his hand for Cloud to take hold of and led him downstairs. If Zack was conspiring with Shin-Ra against them, there was no need for him to know what Cloud was capable of. It did surprise him that no one but Kunsel had ever guessed; most everyone knew that Cloud was his only match for blood donations, but they never seemed to think about what that meant. Cloud was no fighter, but he wasn't as weak as he led everyone to believe, either.

Higgins and the girl were waiting for them downstairs, sipping coffee at one of the small tables.

"Good morning, sir," Higgins said, jumping to his feet. "Everything's ready to go."

"Good. Fair should be down shortly, then we'll move out. You know where we need to go?" he asked the girl.

"You bet," she said with a wide smile. "It'll take us about three hours to get there."

Sephiroth nodded and went to inspect the small pile of supplies that Higgins had put together.

"Your name's Cloud, right?" Sephiroth heard the girl ask. "I'm Tifa. Are you feeling better today?"

He walked quickly back to Cloud and pulled him away from her. That got him a glare from the girl, but Cloud moved behind him and grabbed onto his hair. "Leave him alone," he growled.

"Sephiroth, c'mon," Zack said as he thumped down the stairs, "She just _spoke_ to him. It was hardly a hostile act. Morning, Tifa," he said, turning to the girl. "Are you going to be warm enough?"

Tifa laughed lightly. "Yeah, fall's barely even started. I'll be plenty warm once we start walking, don't worry."

"Let's go then," Sephiroth said, heading for the door. The girl's comment seemed to imply that Cloud was weak for needing warmer clothes, and it grated on Sephiroth's nerves.

XXX

Zack kept up an endless flow of chatter as they hiked up the mountain path, asking Tifa about the town, the reactor, and anything else that seemed to cross his mind. Sephiroth mostly ignored it, concentrating instead on making sure that Cloud wasn't getting too tired and pointing out interesting things in the scenery to him. But when the girl mentioned that her father had been the mayor of the town since before she was born, his ears perked up.

"How old are you?" he asked.

"Um, nearly sixteen. Why?"

"Your father must be quite powerful if he's been mayor for over sixteen years."

"Yeah, everyone looks up to him. He makes all the big decisions about the town." The girl seemed quite proud when she said it. Did she know what sort of decisions her father made?

"Decisions about people?" Cloud's grip on his hair suddenly tightened, and Sephiroth reached back to take his hand.

"What do you mean? What sort of decisions about people?"

"Sephiroth," Zack interrupted, "where are you going with this?"

"Say, for instance, that there was an orphaned child in the town. Would your father make the decision about what to do with that child?"

"Yeah, I guess so...though something big like that...probably there'd be a meeting and everyone would get a say. Probably someone would volunteer to adopt the child. Why?"

"Look, Cloud, that's a natural mako spring. Do you remember seeing the pictures of them in that wonders of the planet book?" Sephiroth picked Cloud up and carried him closer to the crack in the ground from which an eerie green light was flowing.

"Um, hello?"

He ignored the girl; he had learned what he wanted to know. The whole town had agreed to let Shin-Ra have Cloud, and the girl's father had been the one to make the final decision and hand him over. Apparently Cloud hadn't been good enough for adoption. Cloud, meanwhile, was fidgeting like he wanted his notebook, so Sephiroth set him down, then pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over.

Cloud flipped to a fresh page and did a very quick sketch of the spring, then sighed. _Need colours for this_, he wrote.

"Sorry, I'd have at least brought some markers if I had known we'd see one. Do you want your actual sketchbook?"

_Nah. Can I just look at it for a few minutes? So I remember._

"Sure you can." He glanced around them; this was a fairly sheltered area, and dense brush lined the edge of the path. They would hear anything coming. "We'll take a rest here," he said to the others. "Ten minutes."

Cloud sat happily for the ten minutes while Sephiroth watched over him. He was doing very well keeping up, Sephiroth thought, even though the mountain trail was rough and steep. And when it was time to get moving again, Cloud got up without complaint. He took hold of Sephiroth's hair, but Sephiroth thought better of it and held out his hand for him. He was in the lead of the group, and he didn't want Cloud walking behind him when he couldn't see what the others were doing.

Cloud tapped his sword questioningly.

"If I let go of your hand, I want you to drop behind and grab my hair." He could take out lesser monsters with magic and still hold onto Cloud, and Cloud had plenty of experience avoiding Masamune as it was drawn. Cloud nodded agreeably and squeezed Sephiroth's hand, smiling as he did so.

The path wound steadily up the mountain until they came to a large gorge with a rickety-looking bridge spanning it. "We have to cross?" he asked Tifa, feeling extremely unimpressed. Cloud had gripped Sephiroth's hand even tighter when they approached the gorge. He didn't like heights at all.

"Yep! Sorry, it's the only way that won't add on several extra hours. It's not much further once we're across."

Did she have to sound so damn cheerful about it? "We'll spread out to distribute our weight. Cloud and I will go first, followed by Zack, then Tifa. Higgins, you take up the rear." He adjusted his grip so he was holding Cloud by the wrist and not over his glove, which could slip off. "Hold onto me," he instructed Cloud. "Look either straight ahead or up at me while we're walking. Or you can close your eyes if you get scared; I'll lead you and keep you safe."

Cloud gulped and nodded, gripping Sephiroth's arm as tightly as he could. He stared up at Sephiroth unblinkingly when they set out. The bridge groaned under their weight and swayed in the wind. Sephiroth could feel Cloud trembling and wished he could just carry him, but he really needed at least one arm free for this, and carrying him would put him off balance.

He felt the bridge creak again when Zack stepped onto it and quickened his pace. The gorge seemed significantly wider when he was approaching the middle of it. He adjusted his grip on Cloud and kept going; the wind towards the middle was awful, and he didn't want to waste time hesitating.

They were almost at the edge when the creaking sounds the bridge had been making suddenly changed, and it lurched under them. Sephiroth didn't stop to think, but picked Cloud up and threw him the remaining distance. He saw Cloud hit the ground and scramble to the edge with a horrified expression before he was falling too fast to notice anything else.

He landed amid a shower of debris from the bridge, rolling to absorb the impact, and got to his feet within seconds, spitting the dirt out of his mouth. Cloud was alone up there and scared. He had to find a way back up, fast. Glancing around, he noticed a worn-looking path half a klick south of his position and made for it as quickly as he could. If that didn't pan out, he'd attempt climbing, but wanted to avoid that if he could.

"Hey, Sephiroth!"

He started and looked around, spotting Zack a short distance away from where he landed. "What?"

"What? Shit, Sephiroth, you can't even manage an 'are you okay?' Get over here. Tifa's hurt, and I need your help."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Cloud's alone. I need to find a way up."

"Well, help me, and we can find a way up together. We've got to look for Higgins, too."

"There's no time," Sephiroth snarled, storming angrily over to Zack. The girl was conscious, so he pulled her to her feet. "Get up. Show us how to get back to the top."

"Sephiroth! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You think I didn't notice how smug she was about the bridge? How she made fun of Cloud every time she opened her mouth? Don't think I don't know what's going on here. Give her a potion if you think it will help, then move, both of you." He shoved Tifa in front of him and let Zack move up to help her walk. That way he could keep an eye on both of them.

Tifa led him, snivelling about something the whole time, through a series of caves that wound their way upward. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this far from Cloud. Not since the war, at any rate, and never without knowing that Cloud was safe where he had left him. He felt sick at the thought of Cloud all alone up there, wondering if he was dead or injured. What if he had been hurt when Sephiroth threw him? What if monsters found him? While it was true that Cloud could cast some powerful spells, he had never had to rely on them before. And aside from the few materia that were hidden in the armlet under his sleeve, Cloud was weaponless. If something came along that was immune to magic...

"Hurry up," he spat out, shoving Zack's back.

XXX

The sun was beginning to sink below the horizon when Tifa finally found the exit to the cave system. She had spent so much time dawdling and whining that Sephiroth was convinced that she was deliberately trying to take as long as possible. Eventually, however, they did make it to the surface, and Sephiroth ran back to where the bridge had been.

Cloud was standing at the edge of the cliff as he approached; every few seconds he would try to walk forwards, over the edge, but something was stopping him.

"Cloud!" he shouted. He grabbed Cloud's arm and pulled him away from the edge, hugging him tightly. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He noticed two dead Nibel wolves that had fallen near to where Cloud was; lighting scorches marred their bodies.

There were dried streaks on Cloud's cheeks, and he began crying again while Sephiroth checked him over. His hand was scraped and bleeding and there was a bruise on the side of his face, but other than that, he didn't seem to be seriously injured. He picked him up, carefully shoved the wolves over the edge of the cliff, and carried him to some rocks that were further back from the edge, then set about trying to clean him up.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, wiping Cloud's tears away. "I didn't think I could protect you if I let you fall with me."

Cloud angrily pushed his hand away and rummaged through Sephiroth's pocket for his notebook. _Couldn't follow you! It wouldn't let me!_

"It wouldn't let you? What's 'it'?"

_Don't know. I tried and tried but I couldn't! I wasn't scared. I'd have followed but my legs couldn't move. What if you were hurt? I needed to find you but it wouldn't let me!_

Cloud was nearly hysterical, and all Sephiroth could think to do was hold him and rock him until he calmed down. Had there been something preventing him from jumping off the cliff to follow him? If there had been, it was a good thing, but he had never seen Cloud quite this upset before, not even after catching a glimpse of Hojo. If that bitch hadn't been so slow, Cloud wouldn't have had to wait nearly as long.

"Shh, it's okay. I wasn't hurt, and I'm glad that you stayed up here. I'm sorry it took so long to come back." He glanced up at the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Is he okay?" Zack asked.

"Does he _look_ okay?" Sephiroth snarled.

"Quite frankly, yes, he does," he snapped back. "He looks upset, but he's hardly in dire straits. This is why you shouldn't have brought him."

Sephiroth gathered Cloud up and held him balanced on his hip so he could keep Masamune in his other hand. "You'd have liked that, wouldn't you? You wanted me to leave him alone and unprotected." He cradled Cloud's head under his chin and glared at Zack. "Who was supposed to come for him? Did I throw your plans off?"

"What the _fuck_ are you on about?"

Sephiroth snorted. Zack was a good actor—he could certainly feign a bewildered expression—but Sephiroth knew better now. He was a traitor, just like everyone else. "We're going to go to the reactor," he murmured in Cloud's ear, "then we'll find a safe place. There will be somewhere that people can't find us and try to hurt you."

Cloud nodded and clung tightly with his arm wrapped around Sephiroth's shoulders. He was still crying softly; Sephiroth could feel the dampness from his tears. At least once they got to the reactor, they would be out of the wind, and he would be able to find somewhere he could heal Cloud without interference.

XXX

A/N: Next part will be up next week.


	4. Those Chosen by the Planet, 2

_**Title:**_ Those Chosen by the Planet, Part 2/2  
><em><strong>Author: <strong>_XpaperplaneX  
><em><strong>Rating:<strong>_ PG  
><em><strong>Word Count:<strong>_ ~4400  
><em><strong>Characters:<strong>_ Sephiroth, Cloud, Kunsel  
><em><strong>Genre:<strong>_ drama, friendship  
><em><strong>Warnings:<strong>_ none  
><em><strong>Disclaimer:<strong>_ I do not own FFVII or Crisis Core and make no money from this work.  
><em><strong>Summary:<strong>_ A routine mission turns sour when Sephiroth realizes just where he and Cloud have been sent.

XXX

"Look at that, Cloud," Sephiroth whispered as he stepped up to the bottom of the stairs. The massive doorway at the top seemed like some sort of portal to a better world, and the word inscribed above it called out the same promise. "Jenova..."

Cloud sat bolt upright and banged on his shoulder excitedly, the tiredness from their long journey forgotten for now. He quickly got out the notepad and held it while Cloud scribbled something down. _That's your mother's name!_

"It is. I wonder why it's written there." Sephiroth felt himself trembling with a strange sort of excitement that he had never felt before. "We were meant to come here, Cloud. Can you hear that? There's something else in here, welcoming us home."

Cloud grew very still and furrowed his brow in concentration. _Can hear... something,_ he wrote after a couple minutes of listening. _Like when you hum to me when I'm really tired and I can't tell the tune, but it sounds nice. That's what I can hear._

Sephiroth nodded his agreement. He could hear it more clearly than Cloud apparently could, but what he was saying made sense. It did sound nice; it was full of promises of revenge and safety for Cloud. Was it his mother's voice? He wasn't sure, but a mother would understand about needing to keep Cloud safe. Yes... Mother understood. Cloud was special, just like him.

"Cloud, we need to go to Shin-Ra's mansion. Where the lab was."

Cloud looked at him with wide, frightened eyes for a moment, but then he seemed to relax and nodded. _The library_, he wrote.

"Yes. We'll go to the library and learn about the Promised Land." That was a strange phrase that Sephiroth had never heard before, but he understood that it was where he would be able to keep Cloud safe.

First, however, he had a job to do. Zack had insisted that they couldn't leave the girl alone outside, so he had remained with her, leaving Sephiroth to do all the work. It probably hadn't been wise to leave them alone to conspire against them, but he wouldn't be taken off guard. He knew he couldn't trust them.

The problem was clear enough, at least. Mako was leaking out of some of the pods that were lined up in rows on either side of the stairs. He could see it crystallized around them. That mako would also be leaking out into the local water supply and changing the animals into monsters. It was an easy enough fix. Sephiroth returned Masamune to his back so he would have one free hand and located the shut-off valve.

Cloud tapped on his shoulder and pointed at the pods. When Sephiroth held out his notebook again, he wrote, _Monsters?_

Sephiroth peered in through the window on one of the pods. "No," he replied, "failed experiments. They used to be humans; see the basic shapes? And their faces? They've been exposed to too much mako, so they turned into... that."

_I went in a pod like that lots. Why didn't I turn into that?_

"Because you're better. They were weak, but you're strong like me."

Cloud was pondering another question when a loud hissing noise sounded behind them, causing Cloud to jump and cling to him. Sephiroth turned to see one of the pods crack open and the experiment inside tumbled out. It crawled towards them, wailing in what he supposed was supposed to be a threatening manner, so he cast a powerful Fire spell to silence it.

"Pathetic," he said over its dying scream.

Cloud nodded decisively. _Can we go now? I'm hungry._

"Yes, we're done here for now. Higgins had the supplies, but I have an energy bar that you can eat. Do you want it?"

He nodded again and accepted the bar. It wasn't a good substitute for a meal, but it was better than nothing. He would stop at the inn when they got back to town to get some things for Cloud, and he could get food at the same time. He wasn't sure how long their research in the library would take, but he got the impression from Mother that there was a lot to go through. He would bring some bedding for Cloud and enough food to last for a few days.

XXX

"Look at this, Cloud, Professor Gast—have you heard of him?"

Cloud shook his head and came over to climb into Sephiroth's lap so he could see the book he was studying.

"That's not surprising. _He_ was Gast's successor. Anyway, Professor Gast found Jenova—that's Mother—and identified her as a Cetra. He wanted to recreate the Cetra race, so he started the Jenova Project. That's the project that you and I are a part of."

_Are you a Cetra too, then?_

"Yes, as are you. At least part Cetra. You have my DNA and Mother's."

_What's a Cetra?_

Sephiroth adjusted Cloud on his lap and showed him the passage he was reading. "They were a race that were around long before humans. It says here that they had extensive knowledge of the Planet, and that they were constantly searching for the Promised Land."

Cloud traced his finger over the words, then picked up his pen again.

_And the Promised Land is where we'll be safe?_

"Yes, that's what Mother said. This book also said something about the Promised Land." He reached for one of Hojo's old journals and found the passage. "It's a land of supreme happiness, see? But Shin-Ra wants to find it so they can exploit it. The President thinks that it's full of mako."

_But if they go there, it won't be safe._

"No, it won't." Sephiroth set the book back down and stroked Cloud's hair. "I can't let them find it."

_How are they looking for it?_

"I was supposed to inherit Mother's knowledge of it, but I didn't. So _he's_ been trying to extract the knowledge directly from Mother."

Cloud sat up like a shot and scribbled furiously on his page, _He__ is? We have to help her! He'll hurt her!_

"I know, I know." Sephiroth pulled Cloud back so he was leaning into his chest. "We will, but Mother says it's not time yet. I have a little bit more research to do, then we'll go help her. She's okay for now."

Cloud nodded, but chewed on his lip worriedly.

"Shh, she's okay. We'll help her, don't worry. You need to get a little bit of rest first. You haven't been going to sleep on time lately."

He eventually got Cloud settled down on the couch he had dragged down from upstairs, then turned back to his research. Soon they would go for Mother. First, he wanted to look more closely at the old files that belonged to Cloud and him.

XXX

"Cloud." Sephiroth laid a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "It's time."

Cloud yawned and pushed back the blanket that was covering him. He located his notebook at the far end of the couch and dug his pen out from between the cushions. _Are we going to go help your mother?_

"Yes, we'll rescue her, but first we're going to punish the people who let Shin-Ra hurt you."

_All of them?_

"All of them. I promise."

_Good. I hate them._

"I know," Sephiroth murmured and held out his arms. Cloud returned his tight hug and buried his face in Sephiroth's chest. "I hate them, too."

This whole town was poison. It deserved to be wiped off the face of the map. An old recording he had turned up had sealed the town's fate—they had all known that Cloud would be an experiment in the lab, though the contract he had found had said nothing of the sort. Signed by Mayor Lockheart, the contract stated that Shin-Ra Inc. would take custody of Cloud Strife until his eighteenth birthday, providing him with shelter and an education. Nothing about torturing him until he coughed up blood for days. Nothing about cutting off his arm and taking away his voice.

He waited for Cloud to get dressed, then led him out of the basement they had been in for the last six days. Zack was nowhere to be seen; he hadn't come back since the first day. It was probably a safe assumption that he had left to inform Shin-Ra that their plan had failed, but it was possible that he was still hanging around town.

Dusk was falling—time had become meaningless while they were cooped up in the basement—and Cloud stared for several minutes at the sinking sun before turning towards the town. With an encouraging squeeze of his hand, Sephiroth led the way down the path until they arrived at the cluster of buildings that was Nibelheim proper.

"Mayor first. He made the final decision; he should be the first to suffer the consequences." He felt a slight tremble, so Sephiroth pulled Cloud close and hugged him again. "I love you. I'll keep you safe. If you get scared, just close your eyes and hang onto me. They deserve this."

Cloud said something that Sephiroth didn't catch, then bit his lip and nodded determinedly. He followed Sephiroth across the town square to the mayor's house without any further hesitation.

XXX

The smoke over the town was thick, and Zack's eyes watered uncontrollably as he ran down the mountain path towards it. There had been signs that someone had come up from the basement of the mansion. Had Sephiroth noticed the fire? Why hadn't he woken him when he went down to investigate? And where was Cloud? Sephiroth wouldn't have taken him into danger...or would he? Zack leapt over tree roots on the overgrown path and considered it.

Sephiroth had been acting strangely since they arrived in Nibelheim, to say the least. He had always been weird about Cloud, and both of them were paranoid to the extreme, but some of the things he had said and the way he had treated Tifa didn't make any sense. Zack didn't know what had happened in the reactor, but they had both looked strangely determined when they came out. Then, of course, they had gone and locked themselves in the basement of the mansion and refused to speak to him.

He balked at the heat as he approached the town gates. It looked like every building in town was fully ablaze. How could a fire like this start? Surely someone would have noticed before it spread so much. Where was the fire brigade? He coughed and looked around for anyone who might be able to tell him what was going on, but there was no one that he could see. He moved in, searching for survivors as he went.

The crash of a building collapsing drew his attention, and he ran over, only to stop dead when he saw Sephiroth standing amidst the flames. Cloud was balanced on his hip with his mouth and nose tucked under his collar, and Masamune was in his other hand. Something looked decidedly off about them, but he had to call out.

"Sephiroth? Are you guys okay?"

They were too calm, Zack realized, and he backed up a couple steps without meaning to. They were way too calm for the situation.

Sephiroth slowly turned to face him. "We're coming for you," he said in a level tone.

"Coming for me?"

Sephiroth continued to stare—at him or past him, Zack couldn't tell—until he finally turned away and walked carefully through the flames.

Zack ran a few steps after them, but stopped. He had to look for survivors. "How could you?" he asked the air. Had Sephiroth really set fire to the town? Why? There was a loud coughing fit from somewhere behind him and Zack broke off wondering about why this had happened and focused on what needed to be done. He ran towards the sound and found a man struggling to rise.

"Are you okay?" He pulled the man to his feet and checked him over for injuries.

"You—you're one of them," the man said between coughs. "Are you still sane?"

"Who can feel sane at a time like this?" Zack said while he cast Cure on the man. "What happened?"

"That Sephiroth guy and the kid. They just started attacking people. No explanation, nothing. I thought the kid needed help, but when I tried to get him away from Sephiroth, he cast a fireball right at me."

Zack shook his head in denial. "Cloud can't speak. He can't cast spells. That's impossible."

The man shrugged like he didn't care to argue. "He started most of the fires—never heard a peep from him, though. Sephiroth was cutting people down as they tried to run."

"Shit! Look, can you look for survivors? I've got to go after them." The man probably didn't even know what he had seen. How much could a person from some backwater town know about materia?

"Yeah, I'll find anyone left alive and get them away, don't worry. Stop them. I don't know what they're planning, but they've gone mad. There's no reasoning with them."

Zack nodded and glanced in the direction of the reactor. If they hadn't gone back to the mansion, that was the most likely place they'd go. He just hoped he wouldn't be too late. The man was wrong, he had to be; his friends weren't beyond reasoning.

XXX

Cloud stumbled on the rocks as they trudged their way up the mountain, but shook his head when Sephiroth offered to pick him up again. It wasn't much further. He could already see the glow from the reactor.

Bodies looked strange. He had never really had a chance to stop and look at the bodies he had seen before; Sephiroth always did his best to keep him away from the fighting when they were in Wutai. He hadn't expected them to scream so much. Why would they scream? Surely they had known that they deserved it. He didn't like the smell and had been glad when Sephiroth finally said they were done in the town. The air was much nicer out on the mountain.

"Are you excited to see Mother?" Sephiroth's voice carried loudly through the nearly silent night.

Cloud nodded and squeezed his hand. Excited...and a bit nervous. Sephiroth said that she was okay, and that Hojo wasn't hurting her right now, but he was still worried for her. What if they got there and it was too late?

"I can see that frown. What's wrong?"

He shrugged, not wanting to stop to write. Besides, Sephiroth wasn't worried, so he shouldn't be, either.

"Worried?" Sephiroth laughed, "Don't look so surprised. You always get the same look on your face when you're worried about me. She's fine. Nothing's changed since we first heard her. Come on," Sephiroth scooped him up and kissed the top of his head, "we'll get her out, and then go find the Promised Land together. We'll be a proper family."

Cloud let his head rest on Sephiroth's shoulder and tried not to worry. He wished he could hear her like Sephiroth could, though.

When the sound of Sephiroth's footsteps changed, Cloud opened his eyes and saw the long staircase leading up to the reactor entrance. They were here. They were going to rescue Mother!

Sephiroth opened the door and walked slowly past the rows and rows of pods. He was moving like he was in some sort of trance, but Cloud understood. They were so close. Just being in the reactor made him feel different, and Cloud could only imagine that Sephiroth felt even stranger.

"Mother, we've come for you."

"Sephiroth!"

The shout made Cloud jump, and he whipped his head around. He banged on Sephiroth's shoulder to let him know about the girl—she had Masamune—and jumped down as soon as Sephiroth let go of him.

"How could you do that? My father! The whole village! Why?"

Sephiroth caught the girl's arms easily as she attempted to swing the blade that was much too big for her. She dropped it almost immediately, and Cloud was quick to snatch it up. How dare she touch it! Sephiroth tossed her backwards, down the stairs like she was a straw doll, and Cloud couldn't help but wince at the number of times he heard her bounce. But she had attacked them!

"Quickly, Cloud, let's get to Mother." Sephiroth held out his hand for Masamune and latched it onto his back, then took Cloud by the hand and opened the door marked 'JENOVA'.

Cloud shook his hand free and turned back to check that the door was shut and locked behind them. The girl shouldn't have been able to come into the reactor at all, but Sephiroth hadn't been paying attention. When he got it locked, Sephiroth had already started across a long, narrow pipe that stretched across the big room to a platform.

"Cloud, she's back there. Can you sense her?"

Cloud stomped his foot on the platform he had been left on, feeling annoyed that Sephiroth had gone on without him. There was no way he was walking along that pipe by himself, not after the bridge, but he wanted to see Mother, too! Sephiroth didn't seem to hear his stomping, but he suddenly flinched and turned around, and his eyes went wide at the sight of Cloud waiting for him.

"Cloud! I'm sorry! Wait there." Sephiroth ran back down the pipe and picked him up, hugging him tightly. "I'm so sorry. I was distracted, but Mother reminded me. I won't forget about you again."

Cloud frowned at Sephiroth's apparent absentmindedness, but nodded and hugged Sephiroth back, thanking Mother as best he could with his thoughts. Sephiroth would never normally forget him; he was just concerned about Mother.

Sephiroth carried him quickly across the pipe, then set him down so they could both run their fingers over the strange statue that was on the platform. "Mother... We're here for you, Mother. Let's take back the planet together."

"Sephiroth!"

Cloud jumped at Zack's angry shout and quickly shoved himself between Sephiroth and the statue. The door! He had cut through the door to get to them! He could see the hole where it had been. Why would he do that?

"Why did you kill the townspeople? Why did you hurt Tifa? Where's Cloud? Answer me, Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth gave Cloud's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and pushed him around the side of the statue where Zack wouldn't be able to see him. He crouched down low next to a big tank that was behind it and hoped that Zack would go away. He had thought that Zack would understand; the townspeople betrayed him and hurt him. Zack always said he was his friend.

"They're here again, Mother. You should have ruled this planet. You were stronger, smarter... But then they came. They took away what was rightfully yours. But don't worry, we're here now."

Cloud stared in amazement as Sephiroth pulled the statue out from its resting place and tossed it aside like it was nothing. Wires and tubes sparked and hissed as they were pulled apart, and Cloud scooted backwards out of the way.

Then he saw her.

He could see now what was in the tank that he had been crouching beside. Poor Mother! What had Hojo done to her? Cloud froze in horror as he stared at the creature in the tube and felt tears prickling at his eyes. They were too late! How could they even begin to help her?

"We meet at last, Mother."

Cloud blinked away his tears. Wasn't Sephiroth upset? She looked like she was in so much pain.

"Sephiroth, have you completely lost your mind?"

Cloud pressed himself up against the tank, hoping that the shadows would hide him. Zack had his sword out and was holding it up to Sephiroth's neck. Threatening him.

"Traitor." Sephiroth smiled down at Cloud, then spun on his heel and swung Masamune with more speed than Cloud had ever seen him use. The blow knocked Zack back down the pipe, and Sephiroth quickly jumped after him.

He could hear the swords clashing and Zack yelling, but he knew Sephiroth would win. Mother agreed that Zack was a traitor. Cloud didn't like to think so, but he could hardly argue considering Zack's actions.

_Mother._ He moved his lips silently and pressed his hand against the cold glass. He couldn't see any way to get her out. Maybe Sephiroth would be able to do something when he got back. For the time being, Cloud tried to comfort her with his thoughts. He told her about how strong Sephiroth was, and how he kept Cloud safe. He'd be able to keep Mother safe as well.

"Cloud."

He hadn't heard Sephiroth come back, but there he was, holding out his arms for him. Cloud ran forward and hugged him fiercely, not wanting to admit just how worried he had been. Why was Zack so angry?

"It's okay, now, Cloud." Sephiroth turned him to face Mother and placed both hands against the tank. "Let's get her—"

A crack appeared in the glass at the exact same time that Sephiroth stopped speaking.

"How could you? I can't let you get away with this, Sephiroth."

"Cloud." Sephiroth's voice sounded strange. It had been a long time since he had sounded like he was in so much pain.

Cloud stumbled forward, aiming for the spot on Sephiroth's torso where the sword was sticking through. He could heal him. He had to.

"No, Cloud. Stay back."

The sword suddenly twisted and yanked free, and Sephiroth slid down the glass, clutching at it uselessly. He collapsed on the floor as Zack backed up, shaking his head.

"I'm sorry...I had to. Cloud, come on. Come with me."

Cloud shook his head in horror. He was too scared to move closer to Sephiroth, in case he got stabbed too, but he definitely wasn't going with the person who had just stabbed him.

"I'm sorry, Cloud." Zack backed up a few more paces, then turned. "Gotta go check on Tifa."

"Cloud, help me up." Sephiroth's voice was so weak. "Shh, it's okay. This is nothing. Help me stand, and I'll break the glass. We'll get Mother out, then we'll find someplace safe to heal this."

Cloud hurried over to Sephiroth's side and pulled his arm over his shoulders, heaving him upwards. He wished he had a spare hand to press against Sephiroth's wound, but he needed his arm to keep Sephiroth balanced. He tried not to shake and give away how scared he was, but he didn't think that Sephiroth would notice given how much he was also shaking.

Sephiroth raised Masamune over his head and smashed the tube with the hilt, grunting in pain as he did so. The glass shattered and mako spilled all over them. Cloud felt his stomach turn at the smell of it; he had hoped he would never smell a mako tank again.

"I can't get her out whole, Cloud, but don't worry, she's not going to die."

Cloud felt a reassuring hum in his head as Sephiroth raised his sword again and sliced Mother's head off. Cloud screamed silently, but the humming continued uninterrupted.

"It's okay." Sephiroth stepped back and leaned against the handrail at the edge of the platform. "Can you carry her for me?"

Cloud nodded with determination and steeled himself to pick up the severed head. It was slimy and hard to hold; he could only get a grip on her hair, so he held it tightly and went to Sephiroth's side.

"Thank you." Sephiroth picked him up with his right arm, wincing in pain, and balanced him on his hip. He kept Masamune ready in his other hand, and they began their much slower walk back to the entrance of the reactor. Sephiroth stumbled several times, but when they reached the stairs and saw Zack tending to Tifa, he stood up straighter and seemed to find some new energy within himself. "How dare you," he snarled before continuing on.

It wasn't until they had reached the main reactor core that they heard Zack yell behind them. Cloud hid his face in Sephiroth's chest; he didn't want to see them fight again. He felt how Sephiroth struggled to remain standing under the weight of Zack's blow, though. Zack must have jumped, striking at them with all his weight. But Sephiroth managed to muster his strength and threw him back. Cloud opened his eyes in time to see them approaching Zack's prone body, then Sephiroth raised Masamune and stabbed without any hesitation.

Cloud was horrified for only a second, then came to his senses. Zack had attacked them. Zack had betrayed them. He had hurt Sephiroth. Cloud would never forgive him for that.

Zack coughed and spat up blood as Sephiroth lifted him up with his sword. "Cloud, please, stop him."

Cloud felt his eyes go wide, he was so shocked at what Zack had just said. Stop him? Stop _Sephiroth?_ After Zack had attacked them? He stared straight at Zack and shook his head from side to side. Zack was the one who had lost his mind.

"See? I told you. Everything I do is for him." Cloud felt Sephiroth brace himself, then with a great surge of strength, he flung Zack off the end of his sword and sent him crashing into some empty mako pods. "You'll see, together we'll make this world a better place. We'll find the Promised Land." He readjusted Cloud on his hip, then kissed his forehead. "Hold on tight and don't be afraid. I'll take care of you."

He barely had a moment to tighten his grip on Mother and Sephiroth before they were falling. Down and down and down. Cloud screamed and hid his face again. He didn't hear a splash, but the fall suddenly slowed, and he felt very strange. Was he dead?

_Stay with me, Cloud. Stay with me. Listen to me and stay close._

Cloud pressed himself as close as he could to Sephiroth's body.

_You're okay. We're all okay. Stay here, I'll keep you safe. _

He nodded and squeezed the smaller body as tightly as he could. They had to keep him close or he'd drift away. Cloud was safe as long as he stayed with them.

_We're safe. Stay with us._

XXX

A/N: Thank you for reading! Poor Zack, he had so much to do, running back and forth between two people's parts. It was really tiring, I'm sure, so please don't blame him for not tossing Sephiroth into the reactor himself. Sephiroth, for his part, assumed there would be another army waiting for them outside, and decided that if they were going to die, it would be on their own (okay, _his_ own) terms and together. No need to worry Cloud with the knowledge that there was a good chance they were going to die.


End file.
